Terry Riley, Gyan Riley & Gavin Rayna Russom

About

His composition style has influenced every from John Cale to Damon Albarn, and his early work with tape looping revolutionized the form. She has long been lauded as both LCD Soundsystem’s secret weapon as a revolutionary builder of analog synthesizers and also an influential composer. Now these two worlds come together as Terry Riley and Gavin Rayna Russom join each other for a one-night exclusive collaboration.

The joint concert features an otherworldly electro-acoustic improvisation with composer Terry Riley, guitarist Gyan Riley and composer and “synth wizard” Gavin Rayna Russom. From commercial pop to classical Indian Kirana gharana, the real-time merging of these unique talents promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience.

Tickets

The Artists

Gavin Rayna Russom is a New York–based multimedia artist and composer of electronic music. Using the analog and digital synthesizer, she has produced a body of extremely influential art and music over the last 15 years. She is perhaps best known as the synthesist in the critically acclaimed band LCD Soundsystem. Much of her work is informed by her deep relationship with the analog synthesizer, a tool she has applied herself to not only as a composer and player, but also as a designer and builder since 1999.

Central to Russom’s aesthetic is the search for unity between humanity, machine, and art, which has translated into her designing and building custom analog synthesizers, both for her own music and for others. Known in the electronic community as “The Wizard” for her technical prowess, she has built instruments for the likes of James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Tim Goldsworthy (UNKLE, The Loving Hand), and Bjorn Copeland (Black Dice).

Terry Riley launched the minimalist movement with his classic “In C”, composed in 1964, a seminal work which was to have an enormous impact on the course of western music. His music has been played in the great concert halls throughout the world, and his discography includes 60 recordings on labels such as Columbia Masterworks, Wergo, and Nonesuch.

He attended San Francisco State University and the University of California graduating with a masters degree in music. He studied composition with Robert Erickson and piano with Adolf Baller.

He was professor of composition from 1971 to 1981 at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, California. Besides concertizing, he has given lectures and seminars in the USA, Europe, and Australia.

He is a recipient of 2 NEA grants, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Fromm foundation grant for music composition. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Chapman University and Cal Arts.

In addition to his solo piano concerts, Riley performs extensively with his son, classical guitarist Gyan Riley, and also appears in duo with saxophone virtuoso George Brooks. Over his career, he has worked with Zakir Hussein, Chet Baker, Krishna Bhatt, John Zorn, Leonard Slatkin, and the Kronos Quartet.

Riley has been a student of Indian Classical Music since 1970, when he became a disciple of the great Kirana master, Pandit Pran Nath. He accompanied Pran Nath-ji in his many concerts over a period of 26 years until his passing in 1996. He is a prolific composer having written in virtually every form including solo piano, a chamber opera, a triple concerto for 2 guitars and violin, a violin concerto, a piano concerto, works for choir and orchestra, and 23 works for string quartet, including a string quartet concerto and a piano quintet. His concerto for electric violin was premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York on May 13, 2012, and a new concerto for organ and orchestra premiered at Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles April 9-11, 2014.

Terry was named one of the 1000 makers of the 20th century by the Times of London. His music is published worldwide exclusively by G Schirmer.

Gyan Riley won his first guitar in a raffle when he was 12 years old. His diverse work focuses on his own compositions, improvisation, and contemporary classical repertoire. Gyan Riley has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, New Music USA, the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the American Composers Forum, and the New York Guitar Festival. He has performed with Zakir Hussain, Lou Reed, John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth), Iva Bittova, Julian Lage, the Bang On A Can All-Stars, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Glenn Kotche, Secret Chiefs 3, the San Francisco Symphony, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and his father, the composer/pianist/vocalist Terry Riley. Various tours have taken him throughout Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and the US, both as a soloist and in various ensembles. Riley resides in New York City and frequently performs with the duo Probosci, the trio Eviyan, the electric guitar quartet Dither, guitarist Julian Lage, and his father Terry Riley. Terry and Gyan recently scored a new film by writer/director François Girard (“The Red Violin”) entitled “Hochelaga, Terre des mes”, that premiered at the 2017 Toronto Film Festival and was selected as Canada’s pick for best foreign language film category at the 2018 Oscars. Riley has four solo CD titles and many ensemble/collaborative recordings. His fourth solo album, “Sprig”, was released in March on the National Sawdust Tracks label.